Nature Studies

Dear Diary,

I am totally absorbed in my Thoreau biography, savoring every page.  I also keep discovering new parts of the computer game Walden which encourages you to study the natural world.  And there is no better place, well, at least no easier place, to study nature close up than my own backyard.  Years ago I discovered the books by John Hanson Mitchell.  He wrote a book, A Field Guide to Your Own Backyard.  

I have been studying and photographing my own backyard since I move here in 1995.  There is always something interesting to find.  Every morning recently I have been checking the status of a large trap door spider web which is always glistening with the morning dew.  What patience it must have to simply sit and wait.

Mitchell also wrote one of my favorite books, Ceremonial Time.  It traces the history of one square mile of land in eastern Massachusetts over 15,000 years.  I had given away my copy years ago but I re-ordered it to read after I finish the Thoreau biography.  Most people have "summer reading" lists, I have a winter one!  It will be a great book to read by a warm fire as the snow falls.  No chance of snow right now, another 90F day today!